Last year, the watchdog group Survival International reported that park rangers in the Republic of the Congo had beaten, raped, and tortured Indigenous Baka in a national park. Now, the group says, park officials are interfering with an investigation into the alleged wrongdoing.
Survival International amassed evidence that rangers employed by African Parks, a nonprofit that manages protected lands across Africa, had violently evicted Baka people from their ancestral lands in Odzala-Kokoua National Park. After the abuses came to light earlier this year, African Parks announced that it had commissioned a London-based law firm to investigate the matter.
Survival International now says that park officials are meddling with the investigation. It reports that investigators arrived to interview Baka victims in an African Parks car accompanied by a Congolese official. “This risks a chilling effect on the Bakaâ€s willingness to speak openly,” the group said. Even before the investigation got underway in the Congo, at least two Baka victims were threatened by park rangers.
Survival also says that, despite the investigation, park rangers have continued to attack Baka women and children, including one woman who reportedly lost her unborn child as a result of a beating. “While this investigation drags on, the abuses are apparently continuing unabated,” said Caroline Pearce, head of Survival International.
African Parks, which counts Prince Harry among its board members, has not committed to publishing the results of the investigation or to implementing its recommendations.
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